This week in… the State Board

Last week, the State Water Resources Control Board issued the first mandatory water restrictions in the state’s history. The rules, which take effect June 1st, will be in place until February 2016. Under the new restrictions, every water service provider with more than 3,000 connections must conserve a specific percentage of their 2014 per capita use. Percentages range from 8 to 36 percent. Any utility not meeting its target faces fines up to $10,000 per day.

In other news…

San Jose Water Company will begin imposing mandatory water rationing next month, making San Jose the largest California city to impose rationing.

The state has started building an emergency salinity barrier in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta. The barrier is intended to prevent saltwater intrusion and protect the quality of water pumped from the Delta for irrigation and urban use.

The U.S. Forest Service estimates the drought has killed at least 12 million trees in California’s national forests, which are already at an elevated risk from wildfires.